
Malice Aforethought
Failed to add items
Add to Cart failed.
Add to Wish List failed.
Remove from wishlist failed.
Adding to library failed
Follow podcast failed
Unfollow podcast failed
3 months free
Buy for $22.62
No default payment method selected.
We are sorry. We are not allowed to sell this product with the selected payment method
-
Narrated by:
-
David Timson
-
By:
-
Francis Iles
About this listen
In the little hamlet of Wyvern’s Cross, where good manners, tennis and tea are pivotal to the functioning of society, little Dr Bickleigh has a rather large problem: he needs to erase his insufferable wife. His meetings with Ivy are becoming tiresome, and although his burning passion for Gwynyfryd Rattery does not play out as imagined in the toolshed, there is now the infinitely superior Madeleine Cranmere to be worshipped… Resourceful but impulsive, Dr Bickleigh is consumed with the image of his goal. Wickedly funny and playfully frank, this is the best-known novel of Anthony Berkeley (aka Francis Iles), one of crime fiction’s greatest innovators. With David Timson doing the telling, it has never been better.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
Public Domain (P)2025 Naxos AudioBooks UK Ltd.Listeners also enjoyed...
-
Eugénie Grandet
- By: Honoré de Balzac
- Narrated by: Justin Avoth
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Felix Grandet, having married well and become a wealthy landowner and wine-grower, is a miser who watches like a hawk the sugar lumps and the bread slices. The question of who will marry his daughter and inherit his fortune fuels endless speculation in the town of Saumur. The arrival of Eugénie’s cousin sparks feelings and a resolve that puts her on a collision course with her father’s control. As the years pass and she must navigate the self-interest of potential suitors, we see how habits manifest themselves in a new generation.
By: Honoré de Balzac
-
Not to Be Taken
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble, David Timson
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the comfortable English Dorsetshire village of Anneypenny in the 1930s, fruit farmer Douglas Sewell–narrator of the story–sees his friend John die in agony. The death certificate states gastric ulcers but the post mortem’s revealing of poison punctures Anneypenny’s idyllic backdrop. Soon every friend and neighbour seems to harbour something suspicious. Douglas challenges his readers, or listeners, to answer the key questions before throwing out several scenarios and turning them upside-down in a tantalising path to the truth.
-
-
What!!!!!?????
- By R. Perrault on 05-02-25
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
The Two Destinies
- By: Wilkie Collins
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton, Lucy Scott, Glen McCready
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1876, Wilkie Collins’s The Two Destinies follows the lives of childhood friends George and Mary. George is the son of a nobleman, while Mary is the daughter of the nobleman’s bailiff. As the friends grow older and closer, George’s father, determined to end their affair, dismisses the bailiff and moves George to America. Years later, George returns to his native Suffolk to track down his former love. Although she has long gone, he remains determined to find Mary at all costs. But are the two lovers destined to find each other again?
By: Wilkie Collins
-
Blood Sacrifice
- By: Dorothy L. Sayers
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 1 hr and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection Final Acts. Detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers presents a look at morality and motive as playwright John Scales grows angrier and more resentful towards the actor who reinvented his script, and must decide how far he will allow his hatred to take him.
-
-
Thank You British Library Crime Classics
- By John on 12-09-24
-
The Piccadilly Murder
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ambrose Chitterwick is in the lounge of the Piccadilly Palace Hotel, away from his overbearing aunt, to enjoy some afternoon refreshments when he witnesses a murder. It looks like suicide but he saw something being put into the lady’s coffee cup. He is Scotland Yard’s chief witness but he also conducts an investigation of his own. Despite his diffidence and self-deprecation, his sleuthing is not to be sniffed at. There are plenty of twists and turns in this journey to enjoy, especially with master narrator David Timson in the driving seat.
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
The Theft of the Iron Dogs
- By: E. C. R. Lorac
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While hot on the heels of serial coupon-racketeer Gordon Ginner, Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard receives word of an intriguing incident up in Lancashire – the summer cottage of local farmer Giles Hoggett has been broken into, with an assortment of seemingly random items missing which include a complete reel of salmon line, a large sack, and two iron dogs from his fireplace. What first appears as a simple break-in quickly spirals into a mystery of contested land grabs for fishing between farmers, made all the more enticing to MacDonald when a body is then found in the river.
-
-
Well written but Unexciting
- By Geoffrey on 10-23-24
By: E. C. R. Lorac
-
Eugénie Grandet
- By: Honoré de Balzac
- Narrated by: Justin Avoth
- Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Felix Grandet, having married well and become a wealthy landowner and wine-grower, is a miser who watches like a hawk the sugar lumps and the bread slices. The question of who will marry his daughter and inherit his fortune fuels endless speculation in the town of Saumur. The arrival of Eugénie’s cousin sparks feelings and a resolve that puts her on a collision course with her father’s control. As the years pass and she must navigate the self-interest of potential suitors, we see how habits manifest themselves in a new generation.
By: Honoré de Balzac
-
Not to Be Taken
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble, David Timson
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the comfortable English Dorsetshire village of Anneypenny in the 1930s, fruit farmer Douglas Sewell–narrator of the story–sees his friend John die in agony. The death certificate states gastric ulcers but the post mortem’s revealing of poison punctures Anneypenny’s idyllic backdrop. Soon every friend and neighbour seems to harbour something suspicious. Douglas challenges his readers, or listeners, to answer the key questions before throwing out several scenarios and turning them upside-down in a tantalising path to the truth.
-
-
What!!!!!?????
- By R. Perrault on 05-02-25
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
The Two Destinies
- By: Wilkie Collins
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton, Lucy Scott, Glen McCready
- Length: 9 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
First published in 1876, Wilkie Collins’s The Two Destinies follows the lives of childhood friends George and Mary. George is the son of a nobleman, while Mary is the daughter of the nobleman’s bailiff. As the friends grow older and closer, George’s father, determined to end their affair, dismisses the bailiff and moves George to America. Years later, George returns to his native Suffolk to track down his former love. Although she has long gone, he remains determined to find Mary at all costs. But are the two lovers destined to find each other again?
By: Wilkie Collins
-
Blood Sacrifice
- By: Dorothy L. Sayers
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 1 hr and 3 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A short story from the British Library Crime Classic collection Final Acts. Detective novelist Dorothy L. Sayers presents a look at morality and motive as playwright John Scales grows angrier and more resentful towards the actor who reinvented his script, and must decide how far he will allow his hatred to take him.
-
-
Thank You British Library Crime Classics
- By John on 12-09-24
-
The Piccadilly Murder
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ambrose Chitterwick is in the lounge of the Piccadilly Palace Hotel, away from his overbearing aunt, to enjoy some afternoon refreshments when he witnesses a murder. It looks like suicide but he saw something being put into the lady’s coffee cup. He is Scotland Yard’s chief witness but he also conducts an investigation of his own. Despite his diffidence and self-deprecation, his sleuthing is not to be sniffed at. There are plenty of twists and turns in this journey to enjoy, especially with master narrator David Timson in the driving seat.
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
The Theft of the Iron Dogs
- By: E. C. R. Lorac
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 8 hrs and 44 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
While hot on the heels of serial coupon-racketeer Gordon Ginner, Chief Inspector MacDonald of Scotland Yard receives word of an intriguing incident up in Lancashire – the summer cottage of local farmer Giles Hoggett has been broken into, with an assortment of seemingly random items missing which include a complete reel of salmon line, a large sack, and two iron dogs from his fireplace. What first appears as a simple break-in quickly spirals into a mystery of contested land grabs for fishing between farmers, made all the more enticing to MacDonald when a body is then found in the river.
-
-
Well written but Unexciting
- By Geoffrey on 10-23-24
By: E. C. R. Lorac
-
Metropolitan Mysteries
- A Casebook of London's Detectives
- By: Martin Edwards
- Narrated by: John Telfer
- Length: 9 hrs and 17 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The streets of London have been home to many great detectives since the days of Sherlock Holmes and Watson, with some of the best authors in the genre taking to the short story form to pit their sleuths against crimes ranging from murders on the Tube to heists from the capital's finest jewellers. Featuring a roster of Scotland Yard's meticulous best, a cohort of daring doctors and a cadre of characterful private investigators, this new selection by Martin Edwards includes 18 vintage mystery stories which showcase the city's most compelling classic cases.
-
-
A fun collection
- By Blithe Alden on 01-13-25
By: Martin Edwards
-
Two-Way Murder
- By: E.C.R. Lorac
- Narrated by: Kris Dyer
- Length: 8 hrs and 18 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
It is a dark and misty night, and bachelors Nicholas and Ian are driving to the ball at Fordings, a beautiful concert hall in the countryside. There waits the charming Dilys Maine, and a party buzzing with rumours of one Rosemary Reeve who disappeared on the eve of this event the previous year. With thoughts of this mysterious case ringing in their ears, Dilys and Nicholas strike a stranger on the drive back home, launching a new investigation and unwittingly reviving the search for what really became of Rosemary Reeve.
-
-
some repetition but a good story
- By ltufromberkeley on 10-05-21
By: E.C.R. Lorac
-
The Kill
- La Curée
- By: Émile Zola
- Narrated by: Leighton Pugh
- Length: 12 hrs and 37 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Against a backdrop of modernisation, extravagant luxury, political intrigue and sexual immorality, Saccard treats close relationships as money-making opportunities and loved ones as mere commodities. As one character puts it: ‘You see, everything is fine, as long as you make money from it.’
-
-
one of Zola's best
- By Nom de Guerre on 05-05-25
By: Émile Zola
-
Death in Captivity
- By: Michael Gilbert
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffin
- Length: 8 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
A man is found dead in an escape tunnel in an Italian prisoner of war camp. Did he die in an accidental collapse - or was this murder? Captain Henry 'Cuckoo' Goyles, master tunneller and amateur detective, takes up the case. This classic locked room mystery with a closed circle of suspects is woven together with a thrilling story of escape from the camp, as the Second World War nears its endgame and the British prisoners prepare to flee into the Italian countryside.
-
-
Wow! What a hidden gem!!
- By Jenny Jenkins on 04-25-25
By: Michael Gilbert
-
An English Murder
- By: Cyril Hare
- Narrated by: Chris MacDonnell
- Length: 6 hrs and 10 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
The snow is thick, the phone line is down, and no one is getting in or out of Warbeck Hall. All is set for a lovely Christmas, with friends and family gathered round the fire, except as the bells chime midnight, a murder is committed. But who is responsible? The scorned young lover? The lord's passed-over cousin? The social-climbing politician's wife? The Czech history professor? The obsequious butler? And perhaps the real question is: Can they survive long enough to find out?
-
-
Comfortable, safe, satisfying
- By wisconsinclark on 06-01-19
By: Cyril Hare
-
Scarweather
- By: Anthony Rolls
- Narrated by: Gordon Griffing
- Length: 7 hrs and 41 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In 1913 John Farringdale, with his cousin Eric Foster, visits the famous archaeologist Tolgen Reisby. At Scarweather - Reisby's lonely house on the windswept northern coast of England - Eric is quickly attracted to Reisby's much younger wife, and matters soon take a dangerous turn. Fifteen years later the final scene of the drama is enacted.
-
-
Great Classic English Mystery!!!
- By Gae Ann Dudley on 09-06-17
By: Anthony Rolls
-
These Names Make Clues
- By: E. C.R. Lorac
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 8 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Chief Inspector Macdonald has been invited to a treasure hunt party at the house of the Graham Coombe, the celebrated publisher of Murder by Mesmerism. The clues of the hunt have been devised by Coombe's thriller-writer friends, disguised on the night under literary pseudonyms. The fun comes to an abrupt end, however, when 'Samuel Pepys' is found murdered in the telephone room in bizarre circumstances.
-
-
Fun story.
- By peter on 03-12-22
By: E. C.R. Lorac
-
The Life of Samuel Johnson
- By: James Boswell
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 51 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Charming, vibrant, witty and edifying, The Life of Samuel Johnson is a work of great obsession and boundless reverence. The literary critic Samuel Johnson was 54 when he first encountered Boswell; the friendship that developed spawned one of the greatest biographies in the history of world literature. The book is full of humorous anecdote and rich characterization, and paints a vivid picture of 18th-century London, peopled by prominent personalities of the time.
-
-
Wonderful!
- By Tad Davis on 02-02-18
By: James Boswell
-
Love Among the Chickens
- By: P. G. Wodehouse
- Narrated by: Jonathan Cecil
- Length: 5 hrs and 1 min
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stanley Featherstonehaugh Ukridge has hit upon a foolproof plan to get rich quick: he's starting a chicken farm. Dragging his adoring wife Millie and his long-suffering friend and novelist Jeremy Garnet with him to Dorset, he begins his enterprise. Complications ensue, involving the taciturn Hired Man and his bumptious dog, supercilious chickens, irascible professors, angry creditors, and divided lovers.
-
-
Do Not Drive or Operate Heavy Machinery!
- By Amazon Customer on 03-13-12
By: P. G. Wodehouse
-
The Brickfield
- By: L.P. Hartley
- Narrated by: Nicholas Boulton
- Length: 7 hrs and 28 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Richard Mardick is an elderly man with a secret that he has kept since his youth. He recounts his memories to his young protégé and secretary so that his story can be preserved. Faced with illness, the teenage Richard was sent to live with different relatives while being trained as a farmer. Lonely and stifled by family life, he then met a girl and his life changed… with shattering significance for his future.
By: L.P. Hartley
-
Before the Fact
- By: Francis Iles
- Narrated by: Deryn Edwards
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some women give birth to murderers, some go to bed with them, and some marry them. Lina Aysgarth had lived with her husband for nearly eight years before she realized that she was married to a murderer.
By: Francis Iles
-
The Mysterious Mr Badman
- By: W. F. Harvey
- Narrated by: Mark Meadows
- Length: 6 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Taking a break from his holiday visiting his nephew, Jim, Athelstan Digby agrees to look after the old bookshop of Keldstone so that his hosts, the Lavenders, can attend their cousin's funeral. On the first day of his tenure, three suspicious characters enquire after a copy of The Life and Times of Mr Badman by John Bunyan.
-
-
A good yarn
- By CassyLynn on 05-23-23
By: W. F. Harvey
People who viewed this also viewed...
-
Before the Fact
- By: Francis Iles
- Narrated by: Deryn Edwards
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some women give birth to murderers, some go to bed with them, and some marry them. Lina Aysgarth had lived with her husband for nearly eight years before she realized that she was married to a murderer.
By: Francis Iles
-
Trial and Error
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a creative twist, a fatally ill man’s great humanitarian act is to seek out and kill someone deserving of death; but the horror of an innocent man being accused of the murder was not an outcome Mr Todhunter, or the friends who advised him, considered. His job is then to prove his own guilt. Dedicated to P.G. Wodehouse, the story is suspenseful, inventive and humorous, with a riveting attention to detail and a profound suggestion of the absurdity of trying to influence destiny.
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
Not to Be Taken
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble, David Timson
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the comfortable English Dorsetshire village of Anneypenny in the 1930s, fruit farmer Douglas Sewell–narrator of the story–sees his friend John die in agony. The death certificate states gastric ulcers but the post mortem’s revealing of poison punctures Anneypenny’s idyllic backdrop. Soon every friend and neighbour seems to harbour something suspicious. Douglas challenges his readers, or listeners, to answer the key questions before throwing out several scenarios and turning them upside-down in a tantalising path to the truth.
-
-
What!!!!!?????
- By R. Perrault on 05-02-25
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
The Piccadilly Murder
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ambrose Chitterwick is in the lounge of the Piccadilly Palace Hotel, away from his overbearing aunt, to enjoy some afternoon refreshments when he witnesses a murder. It looks like suicide but he saw something being put into the lady’s coffee cup. He is Scotland Yard’s chief witness but he also conducts an investigation of his own. Despite his diffidence and self-deprecation, his sleuthing is not to be sniffed at. There are plenty of twists and turns in this journey to enjoy, especially with master narrator David Timson in the driving seat.
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
The Wintringham Mystery
- Cicely Disappears
- By: Anthony Berkeley, Tony Medawar
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, reconciles himself to taking a job as a footman to make ends meet. Employed at Wintringham Hall, the delightful but decaying Sussex country residence of the elderly Lady Susan Carey, his first task entails welcoming her eccentric guests to a weekend house-party, at which her bombastic nephew—who recognises Stephen from his former life—decides that an after-dinner séance would be more entertaining than bridge. Then Cicely disappears!
-
-
Charming Light-hearted mystery
- By Carolyn on 10-04-21
By: Anthony Berkeley, and others
-
The Crime at Black Dudley
- An Albert Campion Mystery
- By: Margery Allingham
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When George Abbershaw is invited to Black Dudley Manor for the weekend, he has only one thing on his mind - proposing to Meggie Oliphant. Unfortunately for George, things don't quite go according to plan. A harmless game turns decidedly deadly and suspicions of murder take precedence over matrimony. Trapped in a remote country house with a murderer, George can see no way out. But Albert Campion can.
-
-
I LIKE this narrator quite a lot!!!!
- By Meep on 11-16-13
-
Before the Fact
- By: Francis Iles
- Narrated by: Deryn Edwards
- Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Some women give birth to murderers, some go to bed with them, and some marry them. Lina Aysgarth had lived with her husband for nearly eight years before she realized that she was married to a murderer.
By: Francis Iles
-
Trial and Error
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 13 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In a creative twist, a fatally ill man’s great humanitarian act is to seek out and kill someone deserving of death; but the horror of an innocent man being accused of the murder was not an outcome Mr Todhunter, or the friends who advised him, considered. His job is then to prove his own guilt. Dedicated to P.G. Wodehouse, the story is suspenseful, inventive and humorous, with a riveting attention to detail and a profound suggestion of the absurdity of trying to influence destiny.
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
Not to Be Taken
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: Jonathan Keeble, David Timson
- Length: 6 hrs and 42 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
In the comfortable English Dorsetshire village of Anneypenny in the 1930s, fruit farmer Douglas Sewell–narrator of the story–sees his friend John die in agony. The death certificate states gastric ulcers but the post mortem’s revealing of poison punctures Anneypenny’s idyllic backdrop. Soon every friend and neighbour seems to harbour something suspicious. Douglas challenges his readers, or listeners, to answer the key questions before throwing out several scenarios and turning them upside-down in a tantalising path to the truth.
-
-
What!!!!!?????
- By R. Perrault on 05-02-25
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
The Piccadilly Murder
- By: Anthony Berkeley
- Narrated by: David Timson
- Length: 9 hrs and 16 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Ambrose Chitterwick is in the lounge of the Piccadilly Palace Hotel, away from his overbearing aunt, to enjoy some afternoon refreshments when he witnesses a murder. It looks like suicide but he saw something being put into the lady’s coffee cup. He is Scotland Yard’s chief witness but he also conducts an investigation of his own. Despite his diffidence and self-deprecation, his sleuthing is not to be sniffed at. There are plenty of twists and turns in this journey to enjoy, especially with master narrator David Timson in the driving seat.
By: Anthony Berkeley
-
The Wintringham Mystery
- Cicely Disappears
- By: Anthony Berkeley, Tony Medawar
- Narrated by: Mike Grady
- Length: 8 hrs and 11 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
Stephen Munro, a demobbed army officer, reconciles himself to taking a job as a footman to make ends meet. Employed at Wintringham Hall, the delightful but decaying Sussex country residence of the elderly Lady Susan Carey, his first task entails welcoming her eccentric guests to a weekend house-party, at which her bombastic nephew—who recognises Stephen from his former life—decides that an after-dinner séance would be more entertaining than bridge. Then Cicely disappears!
-
-
Charming Light-hearted mystery
- By Carolyn on 10-04-21
By: Anthony Berkeley, and others
-
The Crime at Black Dudley
- An Albert Campion Mystery
- By: Margery Allingham
- Narrated by: David Thorpe
- Length: 7 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall
-
Performance
-
Story
When George Abbershaw is invited to Black Dudley Manor for the weekend, he has only one thing on his mind - proposing to Meggie Oliphant. Unfortunately for George, things don't quite go according to plan. A harmless game turns decidedly deadly and suspicions of murder take precedence over matrimony. Trapped in a remote country house with a murderer, George can see no way out. But Albert Campion can.
-
-
I LIKE this narrator quite a lot!!!!
- By Meep on 11-16-13